Home › Blog › My MedRebels Conference Talk Today

I’m lecturing this morning at the MedRebels conference in Austin, Texas. This is my talk, which focuses on why interventional orthopedics will be the next interventional cardiology. The amazing thing is that we’re on the verge of a new medical specialty that’s about to rewrite half a century of how best to treat orthopedic injuries. For most patients, this will be precise image-guided injections of orthobiologics (stem cells, PRP, and other things that can help tissues heal) instead of invasive surgery.

As you may know, we run the world’s first interventional orthopedics fellowship and train two young physicians a year in this new discipline. Next year this will grow to three fellows annually. We also started the Interventional Orthopedics Foundation to educate doctors worldwide. These procedures are not simple joint injections, and it’s unlikely that your local family doctor, interventional spine physician, or orthopedic surgeon can do this level of work without additional training.

On a personal note, I had a great time at the meeting discussing things with Philippe Hernigou, MD, the first physician to use stem cells for a variety of indications, including osteonecrosis and fracture nonunion. While I had met Philippe when we both lectured in Dubai, I didn’t have the opportunity to spend time with him. It was an honor to have a few drinks with this pioneer and get to know him as I have been reading his papers since 2004!

I hope you enjoy the new talk!

Chris Centeno, MD is a specialist in regenerative medicine and the new field of Interventional Orthopedics. Centeno pioneered orthopedic stem cell procedures in 2005 and is responsible for a large amount of the published research on stem cell use for orthopedic applications. View Profile